Ugh, my computer froze and I lost my note on this one. I have had it before so it’s not too big of a deal, but still annoying.

Mainly I am trying to figure out some of my gongfu brewing issues. No matter what I can’t seem to have a good gongfu session. Maximally I get one good first steep, a decent second steep, and after that it’s all meh, regardless of the tea. I thought maybe I wasn’t using enough leaf so I went crazy with this one. It’s actually less good than the last time I went gongfu on this one and used half the leaf. Still don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve obviously enjoyed the gongfu sessions I had at tastings that other people ran, and I have even successfully gongfu’d tea myself before (a jasmine green), so I don’t know what my problem is here. I think I cannot seem to figure out the optimal leaf amount for my pot. Maybe someday.

Invader ZIm— I kind of doubt it for a couple of reasons: 1) I use the same water for all of my teas and I don’t run into other problems with them; 2) I did a taste test with bottle water vs. my water and they were almost identical; and 3) I really doubt the Beijing tap water that I used in my hotel, and one of the few places I had some success gongfu-ing, was of better quality than my current water!

That said, I might try gongfu-ing with different water just to see if it makes a difference.

Invader ZIm— I kind of doubt it for a couple of reasons: 1) I use the same water for all of my teas and I don’t run into other problems with them; 2) I did a taste test with bottle water vs. my water and they were almost identical; and 3) I really doubt the Beijing tap water that I used in my hotel, and one of the few places I had some success gongfu-ing, was of better quality than my current water!

That said, I might try gongfu-ing with different water just to see if it makes a difference.

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Bio

I am tea obsessed, with the stash to match. I tend to really enjoy green oolongs, Chinese blacks, and flavored teas with high quality bases, especially florals, bergamot-based teas, and chocolate teas.

In my free time I am a birder, baker, and music/movie/tv addict.

Here are my rating categories, FYI:
100-90: Mind-blowingly good, just right for my palate, and teas that just take me to a happy place.
89-86: I really really like these teas and will keep most of them in the permanent collection, but they’re not quite as spectacular as the top category
85-80: Pretty tasty teas that I enjoy well enough, but definitely won’t rebuy when I run out.
79-70: Teas that I would probably drink again, but only if there were no preferrable options.
69-50: Teas that I don’t really enjoy all that much and wouldn’t drink another cup of.
49 and below: Mega yuck. This tea is just disgusting to me.
Unrated: Usually I feel unqualified to rate these teas because they are types of teas that I tend to not like in general. Sometimes user error or tea brewed under poor conditions.